This book traces evolution of India-Japan relations starting from introduction of Buddhism in Japan to institutionlisation of an annual prime ministerial level dialogue between the two countries. An attempt has been made to study how the relationship between the two Asian civilizations has evolved over the centuries, putting the three aspects viz. political, economic and cultural/religious together. It is important to establish the driving factors behind the India-Japan ties. Is it the Rise of China, as many scholars have argued, which has compelled the two Asian nations to seek a closer strategic partnership or is it the continuation of the old civilisational ties between the two which was disrupted due to circumstances such as the two World Wars and the Cold War period.

No doubt, the external factors have played an important role in pushing the two Asian countries closer. But there are various factors such as old historical and civilisational ties between the two countries built around dialogues among the intellectuals that have played an important role in pushing the two countries closer and that cannot be discounted. After examining the historical ties, the book, divided into various chapters, analyzes contemporary aspects of India-Japan relations in the fields of security, trade, economics, infrastructure developments, civil nuclear cooperation and their quest to forge a rule based order.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shamshad Ahmad Khan, until recently, was a Senior Researcher and Japan Foundation Post Doctoral Fellow at Keio Research Institute, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus. He has a PhD degree in Japanese Studies from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He keenly follows developments in India-Japan relations and security and foreign affairs of East Asian countries. He was a Mombukagakusho Fellow at Waseda University, Tokyo while he was pursuing his PhD. He has subsequently been associated with various institutes in Japan including the Slavic Research Centre, Hokkaido University (December 2010 to March 2011), the Institute for Developing Economies (November 2012 to February 2012) and the Japan Institute of International Affairs (November 2014 to January 2015) as a Visiting Research Fellow. He has also been a Visiting Scholar to the Keizai Koho Centre, Tokyo. He also had been associated with Indian think tanks; Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses and subsequently with the Indian Council of World Affairs. He was also a guest lecturer at the Department of East Asian Studies where he taught courses on Japan's Foreign Relations and India-Japan relations to the students of Japanese studies. He developed his interest in Japan while working with Radio Japan NHK as a programme monitor from 1998-2007. Because of his contribution to Japanese studies at such a young age, he was presented with the Nakasone Yasuhiro Award by Japan's former Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro in 2011.